


All I want for Christmas... is you

by IronEyes



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Shopping, Cute, Cute presents, Cute!Tony, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Soft!Bucky, Tony is soo in love, crying!Tony, shy!tony, they are both idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21887686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronEyes/pseuds/IronEyes
Summary: Tony barely remembers that it’s christmas tomorrow and he has no presents so far. Totally stressed, he tries to get everything he needs in the mall, only to run directly into Bucky and he promptly takes the wrong bag home. What he finds in Bucky’s bag, changes everything.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 187
Collections: 2019 WinterIron_Holiday_Exchange





	All I want for Christmas... is you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [burbear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burbear/gifts).



> Wohooo.
> 
> Finally I can show you my secret Santa! So this is for [Burbear!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burbear/pseuds/burbear) I really hope that you like it! I'm super nervous!
> 
> For everyone, this was the original prompt and I hope I did it any justice:
> 
> The holidays are nearly here, and both Bucky and Tony haven't gotten gifts yet. Separately, they scramble to the nearest mall and run through as fast as they can, grabbing their gifts. At one point they run smack dab into each other and in their confusion, they grab the wrong gift bags and take off, not finding out what happened until they get back home.

“Ohh look who is finally awake!” Clint is grinning when Tony enters the kitchen. Tony glances at the huge clock on the wall. Almost 10 am.

“For your information, I’m on my way to bed.” Tony grunts and then makes a beeline for the coffee machine. He doesn’t care that the caffeine will make falling asleep even harder. His whole body aches for coffee since what… maybe 5 am?

“Tony.” 

Tony turns around, just to see Steve and Bucky in the doorway. It was Steve, who spoke his name and he seems disappointed. Probably because Tony kinda promised them all he would relax a bit these days.

“You know that isn’t healthy for you.” Bucky says and that is even worse, because Bucky actually sounds so sad and caring. Tony hopes the blush isn’t obvious on his face and he takes a step back. His back hitting the counter.

“It was just one night.” Tony replies and he hopes Jarvis doesn’t call him out on his lie. Luckily his Al stays quiet and Tony takes a deep breath. Just as he wants to sip on his lovely coffee, Steve takes it away.

“Nope. You are going to sleep now and that caffeine won’t help you with that.” Steve says, very determined, but Tony knows how he means it. Sometimes Steve thinks it’s his job to look after the team.

“Take this instead.” Bucky says, a warm smile on his face and Tony turns around to him. Bucky holds a new mug up and Tony grins at the motive of Iron Man on it. He takes the mug and looks into it.

“Is that tea?” Tony asks, because he normally doesn’t drink that, but it actually smells kinda nice and before he knows it, he takes a sip. Bucky’s soft smile is totally worth the weird taste in his mouth.

“Maybe you should really sleep a bit.” Bucky whispers and Tony nods. He is almost seeing double and that is never a good sign. The last days where kinda stressful, but somehow Pepper needed a lot more things from him this month. Tony kinda wonders why, but he is not really in the mood to ask.

“Maybe.” Tony says and he winks. As he realizes what he just did, he actually stumbles back again, not really sure what to say. Even Bucky looks kind of uncomfortable now and Tony wants to bite his tongue.

He always fucks things up.

Tony is crushing on the super soldier for maybe six months by now. Steve brought him back, freshly healed (also freshly shaved) and the more Tony saw him around, the deeper he fell. Bucky is of course good looking and that made Tony look in the first place.

But then he saw how caring Bucky actually is. How he can light up a room, with just one smile. How happy he can get over the smallest things and even how openly he shows when he is hurt.

Tony shakes his head. He’d never have a chance with someone like that. Hell, he doesn’t even know if Bucky likes guys. Maybe not. It wasn’t really allowed back then and maybe Bucky is still scared. Or maybe he just likes girls. Tony sighs. Maybe he should consider wearing a dress more often.

“Earth to Stark.”

Tony blinks and look at Clint, who sits on the counter again, a knowing grin on his face. He seemed to have snapped into Tony’s face.

“Tony we just wanted to discuss this year’s christmas plans real quick?” Steve says, sounding a bit worried that Tony spaced out for a few minutes. Bucky is standing almost behind Steve and Tony didn’t even notice Bucky getting away from him.

“What?” Tony asks because for sure there is still a lot of time before… Tony hastily looks at the calendar. It’s one day before Christmas. Fuck. How the hell did he miss that? Tony looks back to the others in the room.

Steve seems a bit confused at his behaviour, not that Tony can blame him. Clint is still grinning, Bruce hides behind his newspaper and Natasha shares one look with Thor. Only Bucky looks just as lost as Tony.

“Christmas.” Bucky whispers, his eyes wide.

“Yeah okay. Anyway we all agreed we would celebrate it quiet this year, right? So I invited Sam and I think Scott and Wanda should be here as well.” Steve explains and Clint nods at that.

Tony’s brain rattles. He vaguely remembers agreeing to something like that. It’s not really a big christmas party, rather than they all sitting around under the tree and getting each other… presents.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

“Oh that’s great news!” Tony says and his voice gets a tiny bit too high. Everyone in the room turns to look at him again and Tony panics and holds his free thumb up, before he sets the mug back on the counter.

“Yeah anyway. Natasha and I agreed to making breakfast for everyone. After that we can open our gifts.” Steve continues and Tony nods again. Fuck, he has no presents and even Jarvis wouldn’t order them fast enough, without everyone knowing, when the stuff would get delievered.

“I can’t wait to show you all, what I got for you.” Bruce says, smiling and Tony wishes he could say that himself. Ugh, they probably all have really awesome gifts with a lot of meaning behind them and he has… nothing. 

“I could bake us some more christmas cookies.” Bucky says. then and everybody agrees happily. Oh, yeah, right. Did Tony forget to mention that Bucky is literally perfect and bakes like a god?

“Awesome. I’d like the ones with the white chocolate again, please.” Clint says and Thor nods hastily. Those two nearly fought over those cookies. At least that is something Tony remembers. Great.

“Sure. I need to buy new ingredients for them, but I will see you all later.” Bucky says and he leaves the room rather fast. Tony looks after him - and not only because he enjoys the view. 

Steve starts to talk about their plans tomorrow again and Tony coughs quietly.

“Well that was nice. I’ll … uh go sleep. Like you wanted. I wanna be in my best shape tomorrow. Jarvis, you need to take pictures of their faces when they see my gifts tomorrow. I can’t wait.” Tony knows he is babbling, but he can’t stop.

With a short wave and another wink (what the hell is wrong with him today), Tony leaves the kitchen, ignoring whatever Clint yells after him. He presses the button for the elevator and takes a deep breath once he is inside it.

He presses the button for the garage, because he has no real intention of going to sleep, even though he is already yawning the third time in 2 minutes. Nope. He has to get a lot of christmas presents.

Easy, right?

*

“God I hate this time of the year so much.” Tony grumbles almost two hours later. First of all he has to wear these ridiculous clothes, so nobody knows Tony Stark is buying last minute christmas presents, and then, he can barely take a step forward, because there are people everywhere!

Tony hates people.

Also he is already carrying maybe five bags at this point. At first he had seriously no clue what to get them all. I mean, what do Avengers even need? Surely nothing, but then he stood outside one shop in the mall and something in the display caught his eye. 

They had this new drawing tablet that would allow you to still draw on paper instead of it’s screen and the sensor would project your drawing to your computer. Tony knows that Steve still has trouble with the technology, even though he would never admit it. 

Ten minutes later, Tony had his first present. Then he actually found a wonderful store, that sells a lot of meditation things and he had to see if he could find something for Bruce. He decides on a huge blanket, that calms people down and a monitor that projects calming pictures to a wall, it even has music.

After that it actually goes pretty fast. He buys Clint a Hawkeye onesie and even ridiculous fake arrows that have suckers and Tony knows exactly how much fun Clint would have with those. He also gets him “Die Hard” with the deleted scenes. 

Natasha is a bit harder. In the end Tony settles for a new yoga mat, new knives for the kitchen, because she loves those, and wonderful ballet shoes. Tony knows it’s a hard topic, but he had seen Natasha dance a few times, when she didn’t know someone was looking.

Well, okay. It’s Natasha of course she knew. But she didn’t say anything.

Thor gets some very expensive whiskey, because he loves the alcohol on earth. He also buys him a new playstation game he had wanted a while ago and a sweater with his logo on it that reads, “Strongest Avenger.” He even puts a few sweets in it as well. 

For Scott, he gets mostly stuff for his daughter, but those include board games for the whole family, and then a box with lots of magician tricks, Scott would love that. 

Then, he gets Wanda some more sweets. Two books she wanted to read, but never had the time for and a thick blanket, because lately she was cold a lot. The blanket has a huge snowmen on it and Tony loved it.

Last one was Sam. Tony seriously had no idea, until he saw they had some Falcon merch as well. He got him a sweater as well, and then, a bit more personal, his favourite coffee beans and a new camera. Tony knows how much he loves to take pictures from above the city.

“I wanna go home.” Tony mumbles to himself. Just one more person needs some presents and then he is done. Sadly the last presents are for Bucky. Tony has no idea and when he sees a free spot on a bench he sits down.

Fuck. Only more hour until the mall closes and he doesn’t know what to do. Bucky means a lot, but Tony couldn’t show that, right?

“Dean?”

Tony looks up when he sees a man standing right in front of the bench. He is talking to the man next to him and Tony tries to tune their talking out. He could get some new recipe books right? Bucky would probably like that.

“I wanted to give you this.” The man says again and Tony leans away. This is kinda awkward, but his bags are heavy and Tony’s back aches from this day. He is also very tired and yawns into his elbow.

“But that… do you… why now?” The man, Dean, stutters next to him and now Tony can’t help but listen. That sounds like something serious. The guy holds something in his hands, that Tony can’t really see, but he seems a bit emotional.

“It’s Christmas time and I… I didn’t want you to be all alone, so I finally decided now is the right time to tell you how I feel. Because what if one of us dies tomorrow and I never said it?” The standing guy says and Tony gulps.

What if there is a new mission and Bucky doesn’t come back? He would never know that there was somebody who would wait for him. Who _loved_ him. 

Tony gets up and knows immediately where he should go. He doesn’t even register anymore how heavy his bags are. He knows what he has to do. Bucky would never… he would never… hate Tony for it, right?

He could also pretend someone else put that gift under the tree. But Bucky deserves to know that he is loved. Tony smiles and opens the door to the store. It’s warm inside and Tony feels a bit better.

Okay, it’s kinda a corny shop, but he likes it anyway.

It doesn’t even take him long to find what he needs. 

When he pays for his stuff, the cashier, an old friendly looking man, smiles so knowingly at Tony. He tries very hard not to blush under that gaze. Instead he takes his Coupon Book and the recipe books and leaves the shop in a hurry.

Tony isn’t even looking where he is going, when he smashes into something. Or someone. He almost falls on his ass, if it wasn’t for someone very strong holding him in his arms. 

“Tony?!”

Tony looks up and blinks, when he sees warm blue eyes. Bucky seems just as surprised as Tony, but he smiles a bit.

“Hello James.” Tony says a bit awkwardly and only then he realizes his hands are gripping Bucky’s jacket and he is still in his arms. Tony coughs slightly and then gets back to his own feet. He feels a bit colder now.

He hates himself for wishing to be so close to Bucky all the time. Bucky still seems a bit out of it as well and strokes through his long hair. Tony has to force himself to look away.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Bucky asks and Tony looks down to the ground. Dammit. He is an idiot, now Bucky knows that Tony forgot all their christmas presents. Tony shrugs with one shoulder and then nods.

“Had to uh… fetch some stuff I ordered weeks ago.” Tony says and in his mind he rolls his eyes at himself. Great explanation, Stark. No wonder people call you a genius. Bucky grins a bit and only now Tony sees that Bucky has a dozen bags as well.

Or had. Because both their bags are everywhere over the whole floor.

“What about you?” Tony asks, while he bends over to collect his own bags. Somehow they all look kinda the same. Colorful christmas bags. Bucky takes his bags as well and Tony hastily takes the white bag in his hands, where Bucky’s present is in, before he can have a look.

“Had to get more ingredients for the cookies.” Bucky answers, when they both have their bags back. Tony nods and then takes a few steps back. He is still so very tired, but he would also still need to wrap all the presents.

“Well cool. I mean, see you later, right?” Tony babbles and even before Bucky can answer, Tony is already around the corner, on his way to his car. His heart beating way too fast.

Fuck. He is so in love. He has it really bad.

*

“Jarvis, remind me to never celebrate christmas again.” Tony grunts hours later. By now he is covered in glitter, there are bows everywhere and the presents actually look as if a kid has wrapped them. 

“I will not, Sir. We both know you actually enjoy it a lot.” Jarvis replies and Tony ignores him. Seriously, when did he make his Al so clever. 

Well… at least they all would see that Tony was trying, right? He bets everyone thinks he would just buy everything online and have it delivered already fastidiously wrapped. Ha. he would show them.

There are only two more things to wrap. The presents for Bucky. He even has the biggest and prettiest bow saved for those. Tony shakes his head at himself, he really is beyond remedy. 

The white bag is still on the couch and Tony wants to pull out his stuff. He had bought Bucky some new recipe books, since he knows how much Bucky loves stuff like that, but also a coupon book.

“Ugh this will be so much work.” Tony mumbles. The coupon book is not really finished. It’s more an instruction, how you make you own coupon book with cute date ideas. He could make coupons for a movie marathon or maybe… maybe even a date. Like going out for ice cream.

Tony shudders. He will be brave. He can do this.

Just when he grabs into the bag, the books are not the things that come out of it. Tony’s heart stops when he sees it.

It’s a Teddy Bear. And not only that, it’s a Teddy Bear dressed as Bucky. Tony has to blink, when he realizes tears are already pooling in his eyes. Carefully he strokes over Bucky Bear’s head.

He had one of these, when he was a kid. God, he had loved it so much, same with his Captain America Bear. But somehow they went missing. Tony knows Howard threw them away, but he always tried to be brave about it.

“Bucky.” Tony whispers and he can’t help it. He presses the bear against himself and that’s when the first tear falls. 

Tony isn’t sure how long he sits there, just cuddling the bear, before he wipes his eyes and gets up again. He has to bring Bucky the bear back. It probably means a lot to him and… it seems to be for a special someone.

Tony strokes over the stitched heart that is on the bears’ jacket. “I love you” is written on it and Tony takes another shaky breath. Seems like Bucky has already someone he loves and it’s not… Tony.

Maybe it’s Natasha.

He leaves his own apartment and it takes him not really long, until he stands in front of Bucky’s door. Just before he can even knock, the door opens and a Bucky looks at him. He seems out of breath and a bit as if he has seen a ghost.

“Hey… uh I think this is yours?” Tony says and holds up the white bag. Bucky looks down to it and before Tony can even react, he snatches it out of his hands.

“Did you look into it?” Bucky sounds almost angry, but at least he holds up the own white bag he has in his metal hand. Tony hastily takes it and presses it against his chest, while he nods very slowly.

Bucky only looks angrier and promptly shuts the door in Tony’s face.

“Sir… it’s already midnight, if you really want to catch some sleep you should get it now before the christmas morning.” Jarvis says quietly, when ten minutes later Tony still stands frozen on Bucky’s doorstep.

“I-I can’t.” Tony whispers and walks back to his room. Okay so Bucky wouldn’t like him back, Tony knew that before this happened, right? So why does it hurt so much? 

He doesn’t even know why he can’t just go to sleep. He could just give Bucky the recipe books and forget about the other stuff. Instead he is up all night and crafts Bucky the cutest coupon book in the world.

He could always use the coupons with Natasha or someone else. 

At 8 am, he can barely keep his eyes open, but the book is done and there is a knock on his door. 

“Tony come on! We wanna have breakfast and unwrap the gifts.” Clint yells and Tony nods to himself.

He can do this.

*

Tony isn’t sure how long the breakfast was, but he nearly fell asleep in his coffee about three times. Of course, Bucky’s new cookies taste wonderful and sooner than later they all sit under the big tree Steve had gotten them.

Someone has the stupid idea that they would draw lots, who is allowed to open their gifts first. For some reason (Tony knows Steve did that on purpose) Clint is the first one to open his gifts.

Luckily Tony will open his presents at the end. Bucky right before him. That means when Bucky opens his present, Tony just has to open his own and then he can leave for maybe 2 or 3 days of sleep.

Everyone seems really happy with their stuff and most of the bunch thank Tony more than two times for their presents. Tony is a bit proud when Natasha even mentions how beautifully he wrapped them.

He doesn’t really look what the others get. He doesn’t want to know who gets Bucky’s teddy.

“Okay now it’s Bucky’s turn!” Steve says and he claps his hands. He hasn’t put his new sketching pad down so far and Tony grins at that.

Bucky actually gets a lot of books, but he seems to be really happy over each one. He even looks right into the recipe books Tony got him. Just then the last package is on his knees and his eyes widen, when he seems to understand what he is holding in his hands.

“What is it?” Sam asks, who sits to Bucky’s right side. Bucky holds the book up.

“Oh wow, this is kinda cute.” Clint says and Tony hopes nobody sees that he is actually squirming in his seat. Dammit. Bucky of course knows that Tony gifted it, but he blushes badly when he sees that Natasha winks at him.

Bucky looks up as well, but Tony ignores it. By now there is a tiny smile on Bucky’s face, when he reads the first coupons. 

Tony takes a deep breath.

“So where are my gifts? I hope they are all very shiny.” Tony grins and holds his hands out. To his own amusement every present is wrapped red and gold. He gets some awesome tools from Bruce and Thor. Some sweets he can’t wait to taste. 

Hell there are even some Iron Man slippers from Clint, and Tony has to try them on right now. They fit perfectly even with the fluffy socks he got from Steve. Of course he gets a lot more than that, but Tony is already really touched.

“Thank you all.” Tony whispers and he is already getting up. Yeah he seriously needs to sleep now. His head isn’t even hurting anymore, so that’s a bad sign.

“Wait you forgot one!” Bucky says and Tony stops in his movement. Steve who is still standing, pushes Tony back on the couch. Clint next to Tony gets up and brings more cocoa to the table.

“Oh.” Tony says, when Bucky gives him a neatly wrapped present. He isn’t sure how to survive this. Bucky knows exactly what Tony had given him and now he is for sure waiting for Tony’s reaction.

Tony unwraps the gift slower than he wants to.

“ _Oh_.” Tony whispers again, when he looks down at the Bucky Bear in his hands. It’s really quiet in the room, because nobody even seems to dare to breath. Tony isn’t looking up, looking at the bear.

Just like yesterday night, a tear drops down his nose. 

“Tony hey… no need to cry, I didn’t…” Bucky stutters and everyone seems a bit surprised when Tony starts sobbing for real now. He isn’t alone. Bucky loves him, too. He wouldn’t die alone and…

“I l-love it.” Tony gets out and that’s when Bucky kneels down in front of him. He is smiling so wide and Tony wishes he would kiss him.

“I thought you had someone else. I saw the coupon book and I was so disappointed. I know I don’t deserve you, but Tony I will try to treat you in the way you deserve. And I will always look out for you, even when I’m not there.” Bucky says quietly and at the end he taps on the nose of the Bucky Bear.

“I wanted the bear so badly.” Tony whispers and this time Bucky leans forward and presses a kiss to Tony’s lips. They both don’t really care that it tastes like salt from Tony’s tears. No, Tony is addicted right from the first touch of their lips.

Even though they are aware of the audience, Bucky turns his head a bit and licks over Tony’s upper lip. Tony opens his mouth for Bucky in a heartbeat and he sighs when Bucky’s kiss turns more heated.

“Uh, well.” Steve says and Bucky snorts, before he breaks the kiss.

“I… I will try my best to treat you like you deserve as well.” Tony whispers and he didn’t even realize that they are holding hands. Bucky sits down next to him on the couch and takes his coupon book.

“You already do that, but I kinda wanna redeem my first coupon.” Bucky says and he is grinning. Tony blushes when he looks at the coupon. It’s a dark blue and clouds are badly drawn all over it.

_> 1 x cuddle time<_

Tony snorts and nods.

“Merry Christmas.” Clint says and holds up his glass. Everyone else joins in to that toast and Tony feels himself smiling so hard, his face starts to hurt.

Bucky helps him to lay back down and while Bucky sits almost normally on the couch, Tony has his head in Bucky’s lap, while Bucky strokes through his hair. He sighs happily and presses the bear close to his face.

“I love you.” Tony mumbles and he falls asleep just after Bucky says it himself. He even feels another kiss that is pressed to his forehead and then he falls into a wonderful dream.

Bucky grins and looks into Sam’s camera, when he takes a picture.

It would for sure make for a great christmas card to gift someone.

Maybe next year. For his boyfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you liked it!!
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://tonystarkjr.tumblr.com)


End file.
